A violent brute viciously kicked a woman to the ground from behind in a nasty “Bruce Lee kick” as she was walking along the promenade while holding her five-year-old daughter in her arms.
Charlie Wild was seen “flying through the air” seconds before the “brutal” kick landed and the terrified child fell to the ground before her mum slumped on top of her.
The child later poignantly said to her injured mum in a “heartbreaking” comment to her: “I’m sorry, Mummy. I couldn’t save you.”
Charlie Wild, 20, of Grimsby, had been convicted in his absence after a trial of assaulting the woman, causing actual bodily harm, on July 31, 2020, according to Grimsby Live.
In a separate incident, Wild admitted wounding a man on October 16 and possessing a knife between October 14 and 17 last year.
Craig Lowe, prosecuting, said that a woman was carrying her five-year-old daughter along Brighton seafront when Wild ran up behind her and kicked her violently in a “Bruce Lee kick” while “flying through the air”. The girl fell to the ground first and the woman landed on top of her, with her head hitting the ground. Wild got up and ran away but was restrained by members of the public. He kicked out at them and shouted threats.
The woman suffered permanent scars to her knees and her daughter was left scared. The girl later said: “I’m sorry, Mummy. I couldn’t save you.” The woman thought that this was heartbreaking, coming from a child. “She found it difficult to understand how someone could do that to someone with a child in their arms,” said Mr Lowe.
“She found it very difficult to understand how someone could act as they did.” Wild had been convicted twice in his absence at Brighton Magistrates’ Court for the assault, the second time after the original conviction was reopened and there was a second trial.
He was on bail and subject to a warrant for his arrest when the later knife-related incident took place. Wild telephoned a man to say that he had left a parcel at the person’s flat in Abbey Road, Grimsby, and told him not to touch it and he would go there to collect it. He arrived and said: “Where’s my parcel?”
The man told him: “I don’t know anything about a parcel” but Wild pulled out a knife and asked: “Where’s my f***ing parcel?” Wild lunged towards him with the nine-inch-long knife and attacked him with it several times.
The victim and a friend tried to take the knife out of Wild’s hand and they pushed him out of the room into the hallway and shut the door. Wild kicked the door a number of times.
Blood was pouring from the victim’s back and seeping through his fingers. The man was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary and he had seven stitches for four wounds in his back and an injured finger.
The victim later said in a statement: “I have never been through anything like this before. Since this incident, my sleep pattern has been completely messed up. My mind doesn’t seem to switch off. I think about things I could have done differently.
“I feel lucky that my injuries were not much worse. I am terrified of him sending people round to my address. I sleep with a bat next to my bed.”
His back felt like it was “on fire” and, in the morning, he felt as though he had “slept on a triangle-shaped beam all night”.
Wild had convictions for 13 previous offences, including wounding, involving a knife attack near a nightclub, in July 2018, possessing drugs with intent to supply in 2012, two assaults in January and August 2018 and threatening behaviour in July 2019.
David Eager, mitigating, said that the knife was taken to the flat on an earlier occasion and was already there at the time of the incident. Wild claimed that there was a Samurai sword and other knives in the flat at the time.
“He accepts that he armed himself with that knife that was on the side and, during the struggle, he stabbed out at the victim,” said Mr Eager. The stabbing victim suffered “very grave injuries” but Wild had shown remorse. He had himself suffered serious injuries in another attack and he had suffered difficulties growing up.
Judge Michael Fanning told Wild: “This offending is bad. You are a dangerous young man willing to use weapons and willing to randomly assault a female on Brighton seafront as she was holding a child.”
The attack on the woman was “brutal” and involved a “scissor kick” that left her unconscious. “Your victim was vulnerable,” said Judge Fanning. “She had her back turned to you. She had a child in her arms. A five-year-old child was present. It was a busy public area.”
He said of the knife attack: “This was a persistent attack. This happened in somebody’s home where they are entitled to feel safe and secure.”
Wild was sent to a young offenders’ institution for three years and three months and was given a five-year restraining order.
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